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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23207023">The Knight and the Hunter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Yes this is the obligatory Boba Fett’s One Jedi fic, You know what’s sexy? Honor., bounty hunting is a complicated profession, childhood meeting/adult reconnection</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:55:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,211</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23207023</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Boba Fett is the most infamous hunter in the galaxy. Once he takes a bounty, he always delivers. He hates the Jedi. Criminals quake in their boots when they hear his name. </p><p>Tash Lia is a cantina girl. A Hallikset player. A tomb raider. And once, she was a youngling in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. </p><p>A chance meeting, an intervening twenty years, and then a startling realization put Boba Fett’s battle-hardened honor code to the test as Tash Lia struggles to hold on to her Jedi training and resist the temptation to form an attachment she can’t give up...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Boba Fett/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Once, in a spice hold...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Din Djarin who?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a bounty aboard the ship. Problem was, Boba wasn’t sure who the mark was yet. </p><p> </p><p>He hated this undercover game. That’s what it felt like, a game. The clothes, he supposed, were more comfortable than armor. He wasn’t looking for a person, but he was looking for information. That is, until everything went screwy. Everything went wrong. Well, wrong of a sort. </p><p> </p><p>He’d never been to Coruscant before. He’d never seen so much city. The planet, he’d noted when he’d arrived, was absolutely covered in glittering lights, even the dark parts. </p><p> </p><p>They had been loading the ship when panting, terrified laborers started in with the rumors. The captain of the cargo vessel fielded them while ordering the rest of the crew—Boba included—to get back to work. But, of course, Boba wasn’t like the rest of the crew. It was easy to listen while looking busy. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The Jedi Temple…  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The Supreme Chancellor’s office…  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Glass raining on the avenues, cut pedestrians and air taxis to pieces…  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>It was only once the girl appeared, and the captain roared orders for them to move that he realized something really had gone wrong. The commotion all over the city was palpable, and Boba had to draw on years of his father’s training not to get caught up in it. </p><p> </p><p>The girl was rushed into the ship by a man wearing his father’s face. He helped her on board. She looked like she couldn’t walk properly. He left shortly after. Boba stacked crates into the hold, quickly as he was told, sweat beading down his face. As he did, he listened. He was very good at listening. The crew members were uneasy. The girl was more dangerous than the occasional spice shipment. </p><p> </p><p>Once the cargo was all loaded in, the crew embarked. The infirmary was on the way to everything else. That was what he told himself. Then he told himself it was absolutely necessary for him to get into the vents and crawl to the vent overlooking the whole of the room. The girl had already been more or less treated by the time he got there, but there was a pile of paper and a fully-used tube of bacta laying on the table beside the cook, who was also the medic. </p><p> </p><p>They hadn’t exactly anesthetised her, but she was clearly pretty out of it. She was all covered up, except for her hip, which had a deep wound that even made Boba wince. She should have lost the leg. She should be dead. But neither had happened. He didn’t want to respect that. He didn’t want to be impressed. Instead, he got angry. She was still wearing the dirty tunic. It made him angrier. </p><p> </p><p>He was shaking by the time he dropped from the vent back in the bunk room. He was cold, then hot, then cold again. He tried to breathe, tried to think, but he couldn’t. It took him a long while to get the vent cover back on, making more noise than he should have.</p><p> </p><p>“Jedi,” he hissed. “Kriffin’ jedi brat.” </p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t help it, just like he couldn’t help the bile and hate that rose up in his gut. He shouldn’t have cared, but how could he not? The vent finally snapped into place just as the door was opening. Boba stood, knowing he’d been caught, uncertain if he cared.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Jaster, the captain said. “That old vent giving you trouble? Gotten that complaint a lot.” The sound of his alias pulled his attention away. He turned his head. Saw the captain standing high over him. “Shouldn’t you be scrubbing out pots in the kitchen, like I asked you to a while ago? Shadwell needs the help.” </p><p> </p><p>He was angry, enraged even. But he knew better than to blow his cover. “Of course. Sorry, sir.”</p><p> </p><p>Later, the Jedi girl was at dinner. She was sat at the table with the rest of the crew, about twenty beings, mostly humans. She was small, and still. She was given a plate, but didn’t touch it. She didn’t do anything. It angered Boba. How could she just sit there and do nothing?</p><p> </p><p>“Everyone,” the captain said. He was a large man, probably half Wookie, with a beard that Boba could hide out in, even with his own arms and legs getting too long for his clothes. He gestured to the girl. “This is my guest,” he said, gesturing to the girl. “She’ll be aboard with us on the way to Tatooine. You be polite to her, show her all the respect you’d show any other young lady. Or I’ll hear about it, and put you out the airlock.” </p><p> </p><p>.</p><p> </p><p>It was a long, long trip to Tatooine. Particularly considering that they had to make stops along the way. </p><p> </p><p>It was a stop on Nakadia, where they were to pick up a grain shipment. The captain asked for Boba, and when he came, the Jedi girl was there. They were approaching Nakadia’s orbit, but it was just before beginning landing procedures. She was sitting in the comms controller seat. Boba seethed when he saw her, curled on the seat with her arms wrapped around her legs. Like she was breakable. The blinking lights seemed to bounce off of her.</p><p> </p><p>“Jaster,” said the captain. Boba looked up at him. </p><p> </p><p>“You called me, sir?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. See, Jaster, I think you and my guest here have quite a lot in common. You’re both young, both on your own—,”</p><p> </p><p>Boba’s mouth ran off with him. He felt like he watched it go. </p><p> </p><p>“We are nothing alike,” he spat. The captain raised his eyebrows, taken aback by the ferocity in Boba’s tone. The Jedi girl winced. </p><p> </p><p>“Well, Jaster, alright. That’s the nice thing about you kid, no uncertain terms with you. So let me be perfectly clear.”</p><p> </p><p>He stepped a bit closer, and Boba, already primed for a fight, felt a surge of fresh adrenaline through his system. The captain looked down at him. </p><p> </p><p>“You gonna look me in the eye, kid, and tell me that little girl done you some kinda wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>Boba paused. He glanced at the girl, sitting all meek and mild on the chair. Her hair was long, dressed in a braid and tied with a bit of string at the end. Her wide, dark eyes were looking at him. Just… at him. Her short, thick eyebrows, so blank at first, drew together a little. It was the first emotion he’d seen on her face that wasn’t crying or nothingness. And against his own will… Boba felt himself go just a little soft. </p><p> </p><p>“Being politically engaged at your age is a good thing and all, kid, and I don’t know what kinda anger you have toward Jedi, but she’s a kid. She needs our help.”</p><p> </p><p>Boba’s hands hung in fists at his sides, and he put them in his pockets so that he didn’t have to feel like he looked so useless. </p><p> </p><p>“The Jedi killed my father.”</p><p> </p><p>The captain frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. The Jedi have done a lot of things recently that is somewhat contrary to their nature. But my point still stands.”</p><p> </p><p>“If he doesn’t want to help, it isn’t fair to make him,” said a little voice. Boba turned as the captain looked up at the girl. She had raised her head. “He has a choice.”</p><p> </p><p>“Darlin’, you are injured. You’re a real brave girl, but it would be downright disrespectful to those what risked their lives to get you out of the temple if you went around being too brave before you was ready, don’t you think?”</p><p> </p><p>The girl considered this. </p><p> </p><p>“On top of that, Jaster here may be a tough old womp rat, but he’s a young long like yourself. Those stormtroopers ain’t gonna be gentle and they ain’t gonna spare you if things get dirty just on account’a you being kids. They might not even see him as one. Life’s hard the farther you get from the Core.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not a kid,” Boba said, knowing it was a childish thing to say. </p><p> </p><p>The captain ignored that, and went on. “Jaster, Salcilia here has a bum leg, so I want the two of you to hole up in the spice hold until such time as the troopers thing they’ve scoured the place. If it comes to shooting,” he said, gesturing to Boba’s holster, “I trust you can use that thing?”</p><p> </p><p>He nodded. </p><p> </p><p>“Alright then, both of you scoot on down to the hold. Go on and don’t come out until I come get you.”</p><p> </p><p>Boba turned and watched the girl move. He wanted to still be angry, but the only angering thing was that the captain was right. She was just a little kid. She was younger than him by a good few years at LEAST. Once she was on her feet, she limped a little. It was the kind of wound that needed time, even with the bacta. As she passed out of the room, she picked up a crutch, and turned to look at him. </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know where it is,” she said quietly. </p><p> </p><p>Boba sighed, looked at the captain. “You owe me one.”</p><p> </p><p>The captain’s eyes glittered, and he smiled. “Sure thing, <em> Jaster </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>Boba led the jedi girl to the spice hold as he felt the slow pressure of gravity, just before the compensators picked up. It seemed to be dragging on the jedi girl, but he just sighed, and waited for her. </p><p> </p><p>He opened the hatch in the floor, and helped the jedi girl down. Her hand felt cold and so, so little in his. Her grip was shaky. Once she was off the ladder, he handed her the crutch, then hopped in after her and closed the hatch door. It was dark, with only sparse maintenance lights to keep them from being completely blind. Boba reached into his pocket and pulled out a small light, turning it on and setting it between the two of them as they sat. </p><p> </p><p>As time passed, he heard and felt the landing gear engage and the usually imperceptible whine of a ship entering the atmosphere, friction and gravity trying to burn the ship up. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m Salcilia,” she said. </p><p> </p><p>He looked up at her. Her dark eyes were trained on him. </p><p> </p><p>“Jaster.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is that your real name?” Her head quirked to the side, and she looked unsure. </p><p> </p><p>He paused. Kriffin’ jedi. </p><p> </p><p>“If it wasn’t, would that be your business?” </p><p> </p><p>She shrugged. </p><p> </p><p>“Is Salcilia your real name?” </p><p> </p><p>She nodded. Boba couldn’t believe what he was about to say, but he said it anyway. </p><p> </p><p>“A fake name is a shield, sometimes. Especially for you, now. You should think about getting one.” </p><p> </p><p>She was silent after that. There was the faintest sound of speaking, of the captain’s booming voice, and then—and here, the jedi girl froze and went white with terror—the staccato step of trooper boots. </p><p> </p><p>She was trembling. </p><p> </p><p>Fierfek. </p><p> </p><p>Rolling his eyes, he crossed to the other side of the hold, and sat next to her. He put a finger over his mouth, and looked up at the hatch. Boots were right above them. The sounds of voices filtered through helmets managed to leak in, but only barely. There was a bit of crashing. The girl leaned into him. </p><p> </p><p>Boba sighed quietly. Kriff his bleeding heart. It was going to get him killed one day. </p><p> </p><p>He wrapped his arm around her little shoulders, and held her tight. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’m a better shot than any of them. Cap told me to protect you, and I will.”</p><p> </p><p>“There are too many of them.”</p><p> </p><p>He shrugged. “Gas charges are full. I can shoot ‘em all day.” </p><p> </p><p>She leaned hard into him. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m scared,” she said. </p><p> </p><p>“Think about something else.” </p><p> </p><p>“I can’t…”</p><p> </p><p>He rolled his eyes, threw his head back. “Think about your new name.” </p><p> </p><p>She went quiet. He could tell the troopers weren’t clone troops, because they were being noisy, but not thorough. Clone troopers wouldn’t have missed a spice hold. Or, possibly, they didn’t care to look hard enough. </p><p> </p><p>“Tash.”</p><p> </p><p>He looked down at her. </p><p> </p><p>“My new name’s Tash.” </p><p> </p><p>“No last name?” </p><p> </p><p>“Tash Lia.” </p><p> </p><p>He nodded. “Where are you from, Tash Lia?” </p><p> </p><p>“Zeffo.”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you really from Zeffo?” </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, wait…”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p> </p><p>“Um… can I be from… Tatooine?”</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t act like a Tatooinian. You should be from… Nar Shadaa.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Bad record keeping on Nar Shadaa. No one would be able to say otherwise.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh. Okay.”</p><p> </p><p>“So let’s try again,” he said, lifting his head to listen to the troopers leaving the ship. “Where are you from, Tash Lia?” </p><p> </p><p>Tash shrugged. “Nar Shadaa. Lower sectors.”</p><p> </p><p>It was a game, now. She smiled. </p><p> </p><p>“And where are your parents, Tash Lia?” <br/><br/></p><p>“They died. Of... gang violence?”</p><p> </p><p>”Plausible. Good enough.”</p><p> </p><p>There was a long pause. <br/><br/></p><p>“So what are YOU doing here?” <br/><br/></p><p>He narrowed his eyes. Considered the kid. She was small, and quiet. Maybe she could be useful. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m a bounty hunter. Trying to find information on a missing credit transfer. I don’t know which of these braves it is but one of them was involved-”</p><p> </p><p>Tash said, “It’s Harbo.” </p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Harbo. The Rodian. He’s a slippery one. I heard him bragging to Shadwell about how he was got rich off of Jabba the Hutt’s lax security. He didn’t know I could understand him. I don’t think he thought a youngling from the Jedi Temple would know Huttese.”</p><p> </p><p>Boba raised his eyebrow. “Oh. Thanks.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s mean. And greedy. He feels all bad.”</p><p> </p><p>“Get used to that out here, kid.” </p><p> </p><p>The ship began takeoff maneuvers. Was that captain ever going to come for them? </p><p> </p><p>“You know Huttese?” </p><p> </p><p>She nodded. “I understand it. I sound terrible in it, though.”</p><p> </p><p>He took his arm off her shoulders, and scooted away from her. She wasn’t scared anymore, so it wasn’t needed. “Everyone sounds terrible in it.”</p><p> </p><p>The steady, heavy steps of the captain came booming down the hall above them, and when the hatch opened, he smiled. “Hey, kids. Good job. Salcilia, you need to go to the infirmary.”</p><p> </p><p>The girl said, “Who’s Salcilia?” </p><p> </p><p>She was smiling. </p><p> </p><p>Boba couldn’t help but roll his eyes, give her a half grin. “Cap, this is Tash Lia.” </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>We catch up with Fett in the present day...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They had the Hallikset player serving drinks now. He’d been watching her for about an hour. She moved through the crowds like she’d been doing it her whole life. He didn’t want to be impressed, but… well, it was that kind of night. Something in the air was singing in Boba Fett’s blood, and though it was distracting, it wasn’t the kind of distracting that was going to become a problem. Few things were. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He was something like desperate to get back to Jabba’s palace and bury himself in the pleasures that could be found there, the spice and the sin and the taste of firewater pouring down the throat like sour velvet. Even Boba Fett, after all, took the occasional day, or week, off to unwind. He didn't exactly struggle to focus, but he did concede to himself and himself alone that he was getting a little jumpy. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>When the hallikset player appeared again, this time close enough to touch, she came heavy with the cloying scent of fake flowers. Cheap perfume, the kind you grabbed from a market stall on your way home from a long night shift, the kind you didn’t have to throw credits at, the kind you wore to entice men who hadn’t smelled softness in a long, long while. It cut through the smell of grease and the cleaner used on star destroyers. Her skirt—knee length, tattered, having seen better days—snapped around her legs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Chut chut</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he said, brushing off the Huttese. It gave his voice a different timbre, sounded different when he spoke it rather than Basic and added a layer to his disguise. She paused, shifted her weight to her right foot. Bad left hip. Old injury? He'd thought it was just an affectation, but maybe it was a real limp. She looked for just a second too long right into his eyes, probably registering the scars and the chip implanted next to his right eyebrow. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fierfek</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she reeked of that perfume. Up close, he could see that her dark hair and boots glittered with the mica-rich dust of the planet, and she shimmered in the bright spots of light that created places too bright and too dim in the crowded cantina. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, what can I get you?” she asked. Sweat was beading on her tanned forehead, the wispy hairs at her hairline sticking to her skin. It was getting pretty warm in the room, though from his position in the dark corners, it was perfectly cool. The hallikset player had been mobile since he’d started the hunt, but she was clearly happy to stand still for a second and enjoy the cool air. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something was pinging in the back of Boba’s brain. Like a hook, just missing the memory over and over. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oto du yocola.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anything in particular?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jee hagwa chess.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We just got in some Corellian goldale?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He nodded, and she did in return, before heading toward the bar again. She collected glasses from raucous tables, and Boba watched as someone reached out to grab a feel as she did so. He raised an eyebrow as she delicately twisted out of the way. He almost grinned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fett was naked without his armor, though it was right nearby--in the bag at his feet, actually. He still bristled with weaponry, from the blaster at his hip to the knife in his boot. His armor was known here, though, and this quarry had evaded hunters nearly as good as he was time and time again. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes. She was clever, and if she smelled trouble, she’d bolt like a startled eopie. He'd been trying to learn her routines but she'd been gone almost all week. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she reappeared, bearing a large tray and an instrument, she dispensed drinks, dropping them at tables. On the way, she slipped her hallikset off her shoulder and set it on stage. They must’ve been ready for her on the bandstand. A new act was setting up. She set his goldale on the table in front of him, and when she got close, something inside Fett bristled. Under the perfume, he could smell her skin, her sweat, and could feel the cool rush of air with her movements. He swallowed. This was one of the reasons he preferred to work in his armor. This was too much contact with the world, too many smells, too many sensations not filtered by his helmet, too many mysteries without a HUD to elucidate. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There ya go,” she said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her tray empty, she handed it off to another server. He watched as she leapt easily onto the stage, her heavy boots practical and sturdy, and sat down on a stool. She quickly tuned her instrument, a seven-stringed hallikset that had clearly been through a war, and when the rest of the band struck up, her music disappeared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Quite something, isn’t she?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fett turned his head, looked at the man who had invited himself to sit. Some Hutt affiliate. He’d seen him in Jabba’s throne room a time or two, being entertained by Twi’lek dancers and eating rare, expensive delicacies aboard the pleasure barge. He was a snotty karking barve, and Fett made a point not to speak or be spoken to by him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You see now why we hired her.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmm,” Fett answered. The man had no idea who he was, he just saw that Fett couldn’t keep his eyes off the woman. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s a work of art. You’ll never believe it but we found her aboard a cargo transport a few years ago. She’d been bouncing around the galaxy for years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’d you offer her that made her settle?” Fett asked, partly out of genuine curiosity and partly because if he was going to have to listen to this barve talk, he’d rather steer the conversation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A better job than the one she had.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, she traded cargo hauler for cantina girl?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cargo hauler… again, that nagging feeling came back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, this isn’t her main job. It’s what we do to keep her busy between assignments.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what is it that you have her doing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s quite adept at fetching odds and ends from old Jedi temples.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fett raised an eyebrow. “Really.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What a barve. What a stupid barve. It was a wonder he hadn’t gotten the schutta killed yet, though it also explained all the competing bounties on her. One from the Empire, a pile of them from the syndicates, even Jabba had expressed interest. He hadn’t paid attention to the specifics until Jabba had offered him the job on behalf of a “friend,” or whatever it was that Jabba had that passed for a friend. No one had said anything about a Jedi. And she was serving drinks here? That had to sting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is she a… one of those uh… what are they called,” he said, pausing to sip his drink. It was awful, no wonder she’d pawned it off on him. “You know, jeedai.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A jedi? I have no idea. She’s had some kind of training in that sorcery though. I’m sure you know as well as I that concepts like jedi and the like aren’t worth much out here. The Empire likes to think they have us all in hand, and that we just turn over our force-sensitives like ordered, pbut even the grandest of admirals bow to Hutt sovereignty. She’s as safe as safe can be in the Outer Rim.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>A moment of silence passed, Fett drank again. He wanted so desperately to stop, but he couldn’t risk the chance that being persnickety about drinks would draw attention to him, make his face too memorable. Not that it was--he was, after all, one of millions of men with the same one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>The faintest impression of the hallikset made its way through the loud cantina. He could hardly hear her over the sound of chatter, drinking, fighting, shouting, and the other players. But he stayed aware of it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He needed to go get his armor on, but this barve was the type to get irritable if he didn’t dismiss you, and clearly he wasn’t ready. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>“So, where are you coming in from, pilot?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>“I’m no pilot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>“With those flinty eyes? No way. You’ve seen some things. What are you then?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Just a freight mover,” Fett insisted. “That’s all. Agricultural products from Nakadia.” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>“YOU? Your boss has you wasted. Please tell me you’re at least a first mate?” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fett wanted to roll his eyes. He sipped the saccharine drink, which left a sour taste on his tongue, and said, “No, sir. I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe. I’m not looking for that kind of responsibility. Just wanting to send enough home to the wife and kids so they can have a good life.”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Well, if you’re ever looking for anything else, anything more, you let me know. Don’t touch the hallikset player, though. She’s… spoken for.”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fett knew by the distant eyes the barve flashed at her that the statement was not only not true, but was an outright lie. The woman had probably turned him down a hundred times before. Maybe more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He watched her look around as she played. She had her eyebrows furrowed. She was looking for trouble. He had to get this over with quickly. They locked eyes for just a second. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The woman had dark eyes, like he did, but rather than the hard cast his had, hers were friendly. She looked nice. She looked… playful, especially when she smiled like she was just then. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hers narrowed, but he averted his. He wasn’t sure where he’d seen them before. It didn’t matter. She’d be locked in the holding cells by the night’s end, and then she’d be on her way to the client. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first song ended as the barve stood up, knocked on the table. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You take care of yourself, friend. And… don’t worry about that drink.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked away. Fett was smart enough to know that the knock was a signal and he should get out and get changed while the getting was good. The hallikset player was tapped on the shoulder. Everyone in here was too drunk to care if the quartet was missing their strings, and the place was busy, so she was pulled away again to wait tables. The barve walked up to her, stood a little too close, but didn’t touch her as he spoke quietly to her. She nodded, shooting a glance at Fett. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>Fierfek. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He sighed. Okay. Time to go. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He picked up the holdsall as the woman walked up to him. “Hey, ready for another?” she said with a smile. It was only then that he paid any attention to her earrings. They were semi-circular and gold, with three long chains ending in points hanging from the open side. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>“No. Dobra koona.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>“Oh, so soon? The boss just said you drink free tonight. Seems like he’s taken a shine to you.” She smiled, raised her eyebrows enticingly. “C’mon, man. It’s a good night for it.” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>He snarled in Basic. “I said no.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>The hallikset player raised her hands. “Whoa, sorry, sir. Didn’t mean to be a bother. You have a good night.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>She walked off. She either had no idea who he was, or was good at hiding it. Then again, why would she know who he was? How would anyone?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>He walked out, found a dark corner next to a stack of transport crates, he began to reassemble and put on his armor. It was going to be a long hunt, a lot of waiting. Eventually, she was going to have to come out. He set his carbine to stun, knelt into the shadows, and got comfortable. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>Time passed. Slowly, patrons began to leave the cantina. The staff, too, slowly began to leave. He pulled up the information from the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Slave I</span>
  </em>
  <span> on his HUD. Her name was Tash Lia. She’d been pinging for a while, which is why he took the bounty, a slightly lower one than he’d normally consider. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tash Lia. This was going to drive him crazy. He wracked his brain. Boba Fett had no debts, so he didn’t owe her money. His romantic affairs—if they could be called that—were generally brief, nameless things, with few exceptions, and he’d remember if she was an exception. He’d remember that long hair, wrapped around his hand as he—</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fierfek. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was a professional. Professional disinterest was crucial. He’d hunted pretty women before, he’d do it again, and he needed to get himself together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The sensor in his helmet blinked, indicating something was nearby. It wasn’t any of the patrons. Something in the shadows. Fett felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. It looked bigger than a tooka, but as soon as it appeared, it was gone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The employee door opened, and Lia walked out. “Alright, barve,” she said aloud, a blaster in her hand. She wore a rugged brown leather jacket and had twisted her braid into a bun. “I know you’re out here!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Alright. Fair enough. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stepped out of the shadows, and she raised her eyebrows. “Oh. You weren’t the barve I expected.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’ve gotten that before</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She glanced around a little. “Where’s the cute guy? I thought he was the—never mind.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Is that why you tried to get him drunk?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, the boss really did promise him free drinks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fett raised his blaster, and tried not to think about her remark about his appearance. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“You going to come quietly?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was silent for a minute, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t communicating. Her eyebrows furrowed. Her eyes narrowed above her broad cheekbones. “I don’t think so. After all, whoever sent you has to get their money’s worth. I didn’t think I even had a bounty on me high enough for you to bother with.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t have a response to that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised her own blaster, turning off the safety. “I don’t know who sent you, but I’m pretty sure they want me alive, or you would have already shot me. And I’m not going easy.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Alive doesn’t mean walking.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She fired. The blaster bolt bounced off his armor, and he aimed for her leg, but it missed. That was… great. He sighed. Karking force users. Full-tilt, she went sprinting away from him, but that bad hip was going to stop her eventually. He followed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was clever, dipping down alleys. It was going to be easier to follow her from the air. His jet pack activated with a button, and he used the HUD in the helmet to put a trace on her that tracked her heat signature even when she dipped behind things. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tash Lia ran into a large warehouse, probably hoping to nail him in close quarters, which was a mistake. Not many quarters where she could put up a fight he couldn’t win. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dropping to the ground, he kept low as he scanned the room for her or her blaster. Faint traces of warmth from her footsteps glowed in the thermal imaging HUD of his helmet. He listened. She’d get nervous, staying in one spot too long. She would want to move and keep doing so, no matter how secure her location. He had a feeling she had the good sense not to engage him directly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Footsteps pounded up a set of stairs just out of his sight. He pursued. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He charged up the stairs after her. A blow hit him, knocking him back. By the time he realized she’d thrown a box at him, he was watching her dart away. Getting righted, he stood, followed—only to find an open window. Sighing, he activated the jet pack again, easing himself to the ground outside. Fett looked around. She was close, he could tell that much. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tookas tumbled out of an alley, and he followed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And that was when that second blip on the radar came back, and he realized he was in deep bantha poodoo. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lia stood in the alley, stock-still. A figure in gleaming black armor, with a rather distinctive helmet design, stood at the other end. There was a long, quiet moment. The round guard of a lightsaber hilt gleamed in double moonlight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Fett,” said the ghoulish figure. “Fancy running into you here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tash Lia’s hand slowly crept to the small of her back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Third Brother,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Fett answered. Always polite. No matter how much the man made even Fett’s icy blood run a little chilled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Third Brother was a tall, scrawny barve with a particularly mean streak. Fett had only run into him once before, but had also run into the results of his work. It had been… messy. Fett’s durasteel stomach had rolled a little. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Inquisitor flicked the button on his saber, and the fiery blade filled the alley with light as it grew. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Natasi Salcilia,” said the ghoulish barve, “Such poor luck you have, to be hunted by two killers tonight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The bad luck is all yours, buddy,” said Lia. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shouldn’t have been surprised to see the green blade of her saber appear, but he was, and now there were two too many lightsabers involved in this hunt for his liking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Inquisitor, I have already accepted a bounty on Tash Lia—,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he began, wondering how he was going to talk his way out of this one when it really wasn’t his style to </span>
  <em>
    <span>talk</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the first place. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t bother, Fett,” said Lia. “Vader’s attack dogs don’t care about anything but blood.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lia made the first move. It wasn’t the position he would have taken, but then again, he didn’t have a laser sword. She was much bolder with the saber than she was with a blaster. Then again, it was a weapon that lent itself to boldness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The clash of sabers was loud and jarring. The bright lights filled the dark alley, and it was going to start drawing attention on the abandoned street very soon. He was meant to deliver the quarry alive. However, the client had not mentioned that there might be Inquisitors involved. Nothing about Jedi. That's what he earned, though, for not asking questions. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two sabers touched lightly, testing. The sound was still jarring. The inquisitor pulled up the visor of his helmet. He had a fantastically ugly face  “Well, well. You haven’t forgotten your training, youngling.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pretty sure you’re younger than me,” she said. She had a loose, comfortable grip with her saber. Her movements were practiced, precise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As you like, Lady Salcilia.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fett had to make a decision. If they would put the sabers away, it would be easier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Jedi took a step back—retreat? No. He could tell she was up to something. The Inquisitor grinned like a predator. “What is this? Fear, Lady Salcilia?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was mocking her. Fett raised his blaster. Tash risked a glance at him. Raised her eyebrow. He swore that his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. What was she trying to tell him to—oh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, Fett, hope you’ve got the engine warmed up,” she said. “Seeing as how there’s no </span>
  <em>
    <span>shot</span>
  </em>
  <span> that both of us are getting out of this alive.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Inquisitor lunged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Again, it was a light show, a constant hum-and-buzz routine. This time was different though. Lia’s practiced movements became brutal, serious attacks, beating the Inquisitor down. No longer on the offensive, the Inquisitor was bewildered for a second, which gave Lia the upper hand for just long enough to tire him out. Watching the whole thing was like being in a nightmare. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fett kept his rifle trained, and when the Jedi ducked, he fired on the Inquisitor. There was a breathless second where Fett was pretty sure he was kriffed, where the Inquisitor realized what had happened. Inquisitors were pretty immune to pain. However, they weren’t immune to politics. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked up at Fett. “You traitor! Lord Vader will hear about this!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tash Lia was behind him in a second, and the beam of her saber appeared out of his chest, before tearing through his body like a hot knife through butter. Fett was pretty immune to extreme violence, but that was a little sickening. The Inquisitor turned, his own saber nearing Tash’s leg. Momentum was on his side, but Lia twisted away, only getting the edge of her skirt singed. The Inquisitor fell. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked up at him. Silence stretched on between them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We can’t leave him here,” she gasped, clearly out of breath. Fett didn't move until the Jedi flicked the switch on her saber, turning it off. She tucked it away and looked up at him. It took him a second to realize she was waiting on an answer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“We could put him out the airlock.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She nodded as she slipped her bag over her shoulder. “Any asteroid fields on the way to where we’re going?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Not going to put up a fight anymore?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He put away his blaster and opened the pocket on his belt where he kept the binders. Lia held out her hands. “I’m not an idiot. You had multiple opportunities to shoot, so whoever hired you wants me alive. They definitely want me dead,” she said, shooting a glance at the Inquisitor. “And I need offworld, like, now, before they figure out this barve is missing. I’ll fight later.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He picked up the gored Inquisitor and threw him over his shoulder. Lia followed him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So how'd you get out of the Sarlacc?"</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Fett gets some bad news...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I mean, I always PLAN to update often...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Fett sighed heavily as he dropped into the pilot’s chair. His hip ached, and he didn’t need to take off the helmet to know he stank and could use a shower. He was exhausted. Is this what getting old felt like? Had his father suffered the same aches, the same pains at this age?</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>He flipped through the logs to find the client’s comm code. The dark cockpit was a balm to his pounding headache. Dehydration? Probably. Or maybe it was that goldale. He should electrocute the </span>
  <em>
    <span>shutta</span>
  </em>
  <span> for bringing it to him. But then again, she had probably been told to sell it at all cost. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The blue of the holo appeared, revealing a robed figure. “Hello, Mr. Fett. We weren’t expecting a call from you so soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Job’s done. Where’s the drop?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>“Ah… there have been some… complications.” </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Boba’s blood started to bubble. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Complications?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>“Yes. Our operation was compromised. Her mission has temporarily been deemed inessential. We must ask you to hold Tash Lia until we have found a suitable new location in which we may resume our work.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Gritting his teeth, he focused very carefully on not losing his temper. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>“For how long?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>The client did not answer that particular question. “We can pay you double your rate. Surely, that should cover any costs associated with a brief delay in delivery?” </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>200,000 creds to deliver living, more or less compliant cargo was a tempting offer… just to sit on some hard merchandise for a few days… all he had to do was keep her fed and quiet. He sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>“I can hold her for seven rotations. That’s it.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>The client bowed slightly at the waist.  “Most generous. Thank you, Mr. Fett.” </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The blue light of the holo disappeared. Boba reached up, unlatched his helmet. The hiss of the mechanism preceded the rush of familiar-smelling air. He set a course for the nearest asteroid belt to ditch the dead Inquisitor. The Imperial agent was a cold, dead barve in a cold, lonely ship. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fett stood and walked to the living quarters. He set the helmet on the workbench—it needed calibrating. Always, it seemed, he felt it could be better, more functional, could give him the edge, make up any lapse in his considerable skill. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was going to have to tell the Jedi she was stuck. It was going to have to be quick, like tearing off a bacta patch. </span>
</p><p>*****<br/><br/></p><p>
  <span>It was a few hours before he wound up getting to it. She would be hungry. Bad practice to starve merchandise that seemed to have a job. He put his helmet back on and marched down to the cargo hold, a cheeky euphemism for a miniature prison, complete with cells and bad company. At the moment, the only company there was the Jedi woman, who sat on the thin wall-mounted bunk with her legs folded beneath her. Her eyes were closed, and she’d taken her hair out of the braid it had been in, revealing a long cascade of dark hair, curling awkwardly around her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opened her eyes as he stood in front of the cage door, two ration bars in his hand. Raising an eyebrow, she noted, "We're still in hyperspace."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded. "Bad news," he said flatly, "The dropoff has been suspended. Client said the operation was compromised."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lia's eyes went wide. "What?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tossed the ration bars, and she caught them while standing up. He watched her carefully, gauging how much of a threat she was. A fully-trained Jedi was an ion bomb waiting to blow, able to kill anyone with a thought. Their sorcery was the stuff of deep conspiracy these days, laughed at by beings who had been too young to remember the war or too distant to care about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Those gears began to turn again as she stood in front of him, bars between them. A Jedi. Tash Lia. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The realization was enough to cause him to raise his head, something that made her tip hers down. Of course he knew the name. He'd been there when she'd made it. Many, many years ago, when a youngling had clung to him in the hidden spice hold of a cargo ship bound for… well, that much was long gone. He couldn't remember killing anyone on that vessel, that was notable. She'd been a pale little thing, scared and injured. The bad hip. The lightsaber, which he had confiscated. It all added up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Something the matter, Fett?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>How did you get the saber?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Huh?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>The saber, Lia. How did you get the saber?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>His voice was deadly serious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I… I took it from the temple. On Coruscant, during the… attack. It was a Padawan's, what do you care?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned, and without another word, left. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fett!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Back to the cockpit, back to the darkness, back to his bed. The intervening years had changed them both, him moreso. Those were the Krayt's Claw days when he'd been some spitfire little peedunky with nothing but a bad attitude and a matched set of blasters he was reasonably good with. He was a mean old barve now. She was a Jedi who had killed an Inquisitor who was vastly more skilled and cruel than she was with nothing but a little help and some quick thinking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He fell into the bunk, still dressed. He needed to take his armor off. When he was mobile, standing, it was no big deal, but lying there he could feel every hard kilo pressing down on him.</span>
</p><p>*****<br/><br/></p><p>
  <span>When the alert for the hyperspace jump went off, Fett woke up to it. He sat up, walked to the conservator, poured a glass of water, and drank all of it, then a couple more for good measure. Fierfek, Lia would need water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changing into fresh underclothes, and then a fresh flight suit, he finished in time to drop into the pilot's seat as they made the jump back to realspace. He steered gently so that he was just out of the asteroid field, before putting his helmet back on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He brought Lia a large jug of water, not surprised but a little remorseful when she  drank half of it in one go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd dropped the dead Inquisitor into another cell, disarmed, but now he threw the barve and his saber into the airlock chamber and closed it. The Jedi watched as he hit the release, and both of them watched as the body drifted off towards the asteroids. Fett sighed in his helmet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He would have killed the both of us," she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>You sound like you're justifying it."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do I have to?" she asked. Her tone was guiltless--mostly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't owe her an answer. Let her mull it over, tie herself in knots trying to fit this act into her little code. It was what he should have done, but she'd been right. The barve WOULD have killed them both. Him for being a nuisance, her for being a Jedi. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>No</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned to head back to the ladder that would lead him back to the cockpit. He had a bad feeling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bad feeling was rewarded by a loud crash and a sudden jolt through the ship that threw him off the ladder and put her on her backside. Sensors in the cockpit were flashing bright red and blue, and he hurried to get up there. This had been a long day. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I’ll go back to Mando’ade soon, I just really, really need this emotional support dirty barve right now.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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